Graduation Requirements

Importance of the Grade 10 FCAT

According to Florida law, students must meet all academic requirements in
order to receive a standard high school diploma from a public school. This
means that students must take required courses, earn the correct number
of credits, maintain a passing grade point average, and pass the
Reading and Mathematics Sunshine State Standards (SSS) portion
of the Grade 10 FCAT. Students who meet these requirements, but do
not pass the Grade 10 FCAT, will receive a Certificate of Completion,
which is not equivalent to a standard high school diploma.

The passing scores for the Grade 10 FCAT Reading and Mathematics SSS
and Retake tests are determined by the State Board of Education and are
as follows:
Graduation

FCAT SSS Reading FCAT SSS Mathematics

1926 (scale score of 300) or above 1889 (scale score of 300) or above

Graduation Options
Students can retake the FCAT as many times as they want, until they pass
it, and can enroll for a “free” 13th year of public education should they
need additional instruction to successfully pass the FCAT. Students
currently have up to five opportunities to pass the Grade 10 FCAT prior to
graduation. Students who do not pass the FCAT in the spring of their
sophomore year may retest in fall and spring of their junior and senior
years.

Florida students do have other options. A senior can graduate by

receiving a score comparable to the FCAT passing score on the ACT or
SAT. Students may satisfy the score requirements using various
combinations of tests. See the chart below for the concordant scores that
must be achieved by graduation year:

Concordant Scores by Graduation Year

Reading Mathematics
2009-10 2010-11 2009-10 2010-11
FCAT 1926 1926 1889 1889
SAT 410 420 370 340
ACT 15 18 15 15

Beginning July 1, 2010, students who have not passed the FCAT may
substitute concordant passing scores at any time (prior to July 1, 2010,
students were required to take the FCAT at least three times without
passing in order to use the concordant scores). Additional guidance
regarding how to use FCAT concordant scores is posted at
http://www.fldoe.org/BII/StudentPro/resources.asp.

Seniors with a Certificate of Completion may enroll in any public

community college in Florida by taking the Florida College Entry-Level
Placement Test (CPT) to determine if they qualify to register for college-
© June 2010 FDOE ASP—Page 1
 credit courses or must take remedial courses to continue their college-
preparatory studies.

Legislation provides for a waiver of the FCAT as a requirement for

graduation with a standard high school diploma for students with
disabilities whose abilities cannot be accurately measured by the
statewide assessments. The individual educational plan (IEP) team may
request a waiver of the FCAT requirement for a standard high school
diploma for those students with disabilities identified in the “Enhanced
New Needed Opportunity for Better Life and Education for Students with
Disabilities Act” (ENNOBLES) who also meet the requirements set forth in
Sections 1003.43(11)(b) or 1003.428(8)(b), Florida Statutes.

Finally, if students have not received passing FCAT scores, they can enroll
in a GED preparation course. As each school district can adopt different
policies and rules regarding this option, students should obtain a copy of
Graduation

the Student Progression Plan from their school district for a better
understanding of the rules and policies adopted by their school board.

Helpful Resources
The FCAT Home Page, located at http://fcat.fldoe.org/fcat on the
Department of Education website, provides a wealth of information about
the FCAT and serves as a valuable resource to students, parents, and
educators.

Schedules for FCAT administrations are accessible from

http://www.fldoe.org/asp/schedule.asp on the Department of Education
website.

Sample Test Materials, located at http://fcat.fldoe.org/fcatsmpl.asp in

PDF format, are designed to help students become familiar with the FCAT
by providing helpful hints and offering practice answering questions in
different formats.

FCAT Explorer, located at http://www.fcatexplorer.com/, features skills

practice for both reading and mathematics for public school students.

Released Grade 10 FCAT test books and answer keys are available at
http://fcat.fldoe.org/fcatrelease.asp. The FCAT Released Tests are
provided in PDF format.

The K-12 Student Progression website, located at

http://www.fldoe.org/BII/StudentPro/, contains helpful resources
regarding graduation options and FCAT concordant scores.

Previous FCAT Passing Scores

Students who were originally scheduled to graduate in 2003 are still
eligible for a lower passing score of 1856 (scale score of 287) or higher on
FCAT SSS Reading and 1868 (scale score of 295) or higher on FCAT SSS
Mathematics.

© June 2010 FDOE ASP—Page 2